Louis Odion
The breed the English nobleman has in mind could, however,
not be said to include Yemi Olatunji-Bello, a professor of Physiology and the
ninth vice chancellor of Lagos State University. With uncommon dexterity, she
juggles not a few Herculean tasks simultaneously and has managed to make a
success of all.
One, her prodigious scholarly output in the field of
Physiology has not in any way constrained her civic engagements as a tireless
mobilizer and generous host of causes geared towards women empowerment. Nor
distracted her from obligations as a virtuous wife, doting mother, committed
mentor and an anointed pastor in God’s vineyard.
As she clocks the Diamond jubilee (on April 23), hers is
indeed a compelling story that should, therefore, inspire those still detained
by the common assumption that the dizzying pace of the post-modernist world
limits the career lady in other spheres.
One writes with the insights of someone who has known and
related closely with Professor Olatunji-Bello for more than thirty years. While
her appointment as LASU vice chancellor in 2021 might have thrust her into
national limelight, she had long made her mark in academic research with name
recognition in learned journals with over 55 seminal publications, becoming a
professor in 2007 and the first Professor of Physiology in Lagos State
University College of Medicine (LASUCOM).
Two years later, it was inevitable that she would gain national recognition after delivering the 40th Inaugural Lecture of LASU entitled, “PHYSIOLOGY: Influence of Environmental Factors, Diet and Herbs”. Judging from the rave reviews it immediately elicited in the academic circuits, that singular outing undoubtedly affirmed her impeccable originality as a scholar.
Henceforth, there was no more hiding place for the
proverbial golden fish. International celebrities in her field like the
Professor Russel Reiter Melatonin Research Team at Department of Cellular and
Structural Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio, United States engaged her in collaborative work.
The highly regarded Physiological Society of United Kingdom
inducted her as a fellow. Ditto the Physiological Society of Nigeria (PSN).
Followed by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Pollution mitigation
(SEPTPOM).
Following her assumption of the reins at LASU, it is a
measure of her knack for industry, tenacity and excellence that the institution
was able to scale rigorous hurdles to pass resource assessment by
the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) in whopping
twenty-one courses within two years. A feat unparalleled in the university’s 41
years of existence.
But while the prodigious Professor may now bask in the glory
of her success, not many would know that she almost quit early on. Given her
brilliant resume, she was tempted many times with a mouth-watering offer
outside the academia in the 90s. But her dad, Pa Meshack Ibidapo, constantly
counseled her against seeking gratification in immediate material gain. The
perceptive sage from Owo apparently saw what many didn’t see then. He lived to
see his precocious daughter become Professor in 2007, but sadly not as LASU
vice chancellor as he transited in 2018, few months before his 90th birthday.
Comfortingly, her mum — Mama Jadesola, the jewel of the
Onigbanjo family of Lagos Island — witnessed her inauguration in 2021 and also
saw her being bestowed with the coveted National Productivity award a year
before she too passed on at age 90.
Overall, the energy Professor Olatunji-Bello exerts in
scholarly pursuits is only equalled by a fierce devotion to family. She is
never shy to openly acknowledge that whatever success she might have recorded
in her professional life is due substantially to the unqualified support from
the soulmate she met way back at University of Ibadan.
Indeed, the story of how her path and that of her husband’s
crossed in early 80s is the stuff of romance blockbuster. Dashing Tunji Bello
(TB) was gunning for the Presidency of the UI Students Union Government (SUG)
and took his campaign to the female hostel. Amid a stirring peroration during
one such visit to the female dormitory, there was an eye-contact, then a
chemistry and eventually marriage in 1989.
With a smile, Professor Tunji-Bello never tires to recall
how she helped improvise TB’s campaign song from a hit entitled, “Let’s Go
Dancing …. Hoola-la-la”, by pop rave then named “Kool & the Gang”. The line
was adapted to “Tunji Bello … Hoola-la-la”.
Being married to a journalist surely comes with peculiar
challenges, especially at a trying period when the country chaffed under
military despotism and writing a critical piece could mean gulag or
letter-bomb. Regardless, she always supported her husband.
In the heat of the struggle against the annulment of June 12
in 1993, her husband became a target being one of MKO’s media strategists and
Concord editors. For several weeks between June 23 and August 26, 1993 when IBB
was “disgraced” out of power, TB had to constantly be on the move, sleeping in
different hotels to beat security goons detailed to hunt down opposition.
While journalism means constant travels and TB’s latter
engagement in public service to Lagos State translated to returning home at odd
hours often, the heavy burden of raising their children according to Godly
values fell largely on the Professor.
It is to her credit that they have all turned out to be
successful, adorable and well-behaved today. The first, Temitope, is today a
registered cardiologist in the United States. The second, Deji, is a young
engineer with a Master’s degree. While the “baby of the house”, Lamide, is a
lawyer based in the United Kingdom, having bagged her Master’s from London
School of Economics.
Daughters always inherit something from their mothers.
Prof’s, inherited from her late mum, is a passion for evangelism. She did a
programme in theology, to prepare her as the Zonal Pastor in charge of zone 9
of Lagos Province 1 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Apart from
officiating the weekly service somewhere in Lekki, she runs a care clinic in
the church to support the needy, counsel the traumatized and mentor the young
ones.
Again, it is a measure of her spirit of tolerance that after preaching the scriptures, she returns home to be with her Muslim husband. Her Christian faith will not stop her from ensuring that provisions are made for her husband’s fasting during Ramadan and the celebration of Sallah.
By way of special appreciation, let it also be acknowledged
now that her demonstrable policy of “peaceful co-existence” also benefited
“OPEC” immensely over the decades, being the very fore-bearing spouse of its
Life President, with KK (Comrade Kayode Komolafe) as Vice President.
At the height of its corporate glory, not once did she ever
obstruct the summits nor disrupt the smooth operations of “OPEC”. As the
Secretary General of that restricted club, yours sincerely can affirm that her
attitude has always been pacifist when such summits held to her knowledge or
within her purview.
Rather, she would intensify “prayers” to render OPEC’s oil
blocks completely extinct, sooner than later. (Those still in the dark
concerning “OPEC” are respectfully directed to consult those who know.)
Here is wishing Prof happy birthday and many happy returns
of the day in robust health and fine spirit.
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